A "wormhole" is the name for a connection between the cusps of the
potential minima of two black holes. Einstein and Nathan Rosen discovered solutions to the
equations of relativity that suggested such connections between black holes could exist.
They have a fascination because, in priniciple, something that falls into one blackhole
may travel through the wormhole and emerge in the other one, far, far away --- or even in
another Universe!

Physicists are not sure if wormholes can exist, and most who believe in them say
they require "exotic matter" to be sustained. Furthermore to get into the
wormhole you would have to undergo the rather unpleasant experiences associated with
falling into its black hole -- such as being torn apart by tidal forces if the black hole
is of modest mass (tides decrease as the mass of the black hole increases). Also, you
would be fried by the ultraviolet, X-ray, and gamma ray photons resulting from the strong
gravitational blueshifting of photons that fall into the hole. Nonetheless, the concept of
effortless transport to another far-away place is so entrancing that wormholes are invoked
in science fiction all the time. However, given that the whole idea may be a fantasy, we
offer the best fantasy description of what falling into one might be like -- complete with
distortions in the sense of time, and the entry to a strange universe:

Alice In Wonderland
by Lewis Carroll

Chapter I: Down the Rabbit-Hole

Alice was beginning to get very tired of sitting by her sister on the bank, and of having
nothing to do: once or twice she had peeped into the book her sister was reading, but it
had no pictures or conversations in it, `and what is the use of a book,' thought Alice
`without pictures or conversation?'
Image: Bessie Pease Gutmann, 1907

So she was considering in her own mind (as well as she could, for the hot day made her
feel very sleepy and stupid), whether the pleasure of making a daisy-chain would be worth
the trouble of getting up and picking the daisies, when suddenly a White Rabbit with pink
eyes ran close by her.

There was nothing so VERY remarkable in that; nor did Alice think it so VERY much out of
the way to hear the Rabbit say to itself, `Oh dear! Oh dear! I shall be late!' ..(when she
thought it over afterwards, it occurred to her that she ought to have wondered at this,
but at the time it all seemed quite natural).

But when the Rabbit actually TOOK A WATCH OUT OF ITS WAISTCOAT- POCKET, and looked at it,
and then hurried on, Alice started to her feet, for it flashed across her mind that she
had never before see a rabbit with either a waistcoat-pocket, or a watch to take out of
it, and burning with curiosity, she ran across the field after it, and fortunately was
just in time to see it pop down a large rabbit-hole under the hedge.
Image: Illustrator unknown
In another moment down went Alice after it, never once considering how in the world she
was to get out again. The rabbit-hole went straight on like a tunnel for some way, and
then dipped suddenly down, so suddenly that Alice had not a moment to think about stopping
herself before she found herself falling down a very deep well.

Either the well was very deep, or she fell very slowly, for she had plenty of time as she
went down to look about her and to wonder what was going to happen next.
(c) Image: Disney, Appears Courtesy of American Royal Arts .

First, she tried to look down and make out what she was coming to, but it was too dark to
see anything; then she looked at the sides of the well, and noticed that they were filled
with cupboards and book-shelves; here and there she saw maps and pictures hung upon pegs.
She took down a jar from one of the shelves as she passed; it was labelled `ORANGE
MARMALADE', but to her great disappointment it was empty. She did not like to drop the jar
for fear of killing somebody, so managed to put it into one of the cupboards as she fell
past it.
Image: Maria Kirk - 1904

`Well!' thought Alice to herself, `after such a fall as this, I shall think nothing of
tumbling down stairs! How brave they'll all think me at home! Why, I wouldn't say anything
about it, even if I fell off the top of the house!' (Which was very likely true.)

Down,
_______down,
_____________down.
Would the fall NEVER come to an end! `I wonder how many miles I've fallen by this time?'
she said aloud. `I must be getting somewhere near the centre of the earth. Let me see:
that would be four thousand miles down, I think--' (for, you see, Alice had learnt several
things of this sort in her lessons in the schoolroom, and though this was not a VERY good
opportunity for showing off her knowledge, as there was no one to listen to her, still it
was good practice to say it over) `--yes, that's about the right distance--but then I
wonder what Latitude or Longitude I've got to?' (Alice had no idea what Latitude was, or
Longitude either, but thought they were nice grand words to say.)

Presently she began again. `I wonder if I shall fall right THROUGH the earth! How funny
it'll seem to come out among the people that walk with their heads downward! The
Antipathies, I think--' (she was rather glad there WAS no one listening, this time, as it
didn't sound at all the right word) `--but I shall have to ask them what the name of the
country is, you know. Please, Ma'am, is this New Zealand or Australia?' (and she tried to
curtsey as she spoke--fancy CURTSEYING as you're falling through the air! Do you think you
could manage it?) `And what an ignorant little girl she'll think me for asking! No, it'll
never do to ask: perhaps I shall see it written up somewhere.'
Down,
_____down,
_________down.
There was nothing else to do, so Alice soon began talking again. "Dinah'll miss me
very much to-night, I should think!' (Dinah was the cat.) `I hope they'll remember her
saucer of milk at tea-time. Dinah my dear! I wish you were down here with me! There are no
mice in the air, I'm afraid, but you might catch a bat, and that's very like a mouse, you
know. But do cats eat bats, I wonder?'
Image: Gwynedd M. Hudson, 1922

And here Alice began to get rather sleepy, and went on saying to herself, in a dreamy sort
of way, `Do cats eat bats? Do cats eat bats?' and sometimes, `Do bats eat cats?' for, you
see, as she couldn't answer either question, it didn't much matter which way she put it.

She felt that she was dozing off, and had just begun to dream that she was walking hand in
hand with Dinah, and saying to her very earnestly, `Now, Dinah, tell me the truth: did you
ever eat a bat?' when suddenly, thump! thump! down she came upon a heap of sticks and dry
leaves, and the fall was over.

Alice was not a bit hurt, and she jumped up on to her feet in a moment: she looked up, but
it was all dark overhead; before her was another long passage, and the White Rabbit was
still in sight, hurrying down it.

Image: Sir John Tenniel - 1865

There was not a moment to be lost: away went Alice like the wind, and was just in time to
hear it say, as it turned a corner, `Oh my ears and whiskers, how late it's getting!'

Image: Sir John Tenniel - 1865

She was close behind it when she turned to corner, but the Rabbit was no longer to be
seen: she found herself in a long, low hall, which was lit up by a row of lamps hanging
from the roof. There were doors all round the hall, but they were all locked; and when
Alice had been all the way down one side and up the other, trying every door, she walked
sadly down the middle, wondering how she was ever to get out again.

Suddenly she came upon a little three-legged table, all made of solid glass; there
was nothing on it except a tiny golden key, and Alice's first thought was that it might
belong to one of the doors of the hall; but, alas! either the locks were too large, or the
key was too small, but at any rate it would not open any of them.
Image: Sir John Tenniel - 1865

However, on the second time round, she came upon a low curtain she had not noticed
before, and behind it was a little door about fifteen inches high: she tried the little
golden key in the lock, and to her great delight it fitted!

Alice opened the door and found that it led into a small passage, not much larger than a
rat-hole: she knelt down and looked along the passage into the loveliest garden you ever
saw. How she longed to get out of that dark hall, and wander about among those beds of
bright flowers and those cool fountains, but she could not even get her head though the
doorway; `and even if my head would go through,' thought poor Alice, `it would be of very
little use without my shoulders. Oh, how I wish I could shut up like a telescope! I think
I could, if I only know how to begin.' For, you see, so many out-of-the-way things had
happened lately, that Alice had begun to think that very few things indeed were really
impossible. There seemed to be no use in waiting by the little door, so she went back to
the table, half hoping she might find another key on it, or at any rate a book of rules
for shutting people up like telescopes: this time she found a little bottle on it, (`which
certainly was not here before,' said Alice,) and round the neck of the bottle was a paper
label, with the words Drink Me beautifully printed on it in
large letters.
Image: Sir John Tenniel - 1865
1890 Nursery Version

It was all very well to say `Drink me,' but the wise little Alice was not going to do THAT
in a hurry. `No, I'll look first,' she said, `and see whether it's marked
"poison" or not'; for she had read several nice little histories about children
who had got burnt, and eaten up by wild beasts and other unpleasant things, all because
they WOULD not remember the simple rules their friends had taught them: such as, that a
red-hot poker will burn you if your hold it too long; and that if you cut your finger VERY
deeply with a knife, it usually bleeds; and she had never forgotten that, if you drink
much from a bottle marked `poison,' it is almost certain to disagree with you, sooner or
later.

However, this bottle was NOT marked `poison,' so Alice ventured to taste it, and finding
it very nice, (it had, in fact, a sort of mixed flavour of cherry-tart, custard,
pine-apple, roast turkey, toffee, and hot buttered toast,) she very soon finished it off.

`What a curious feeling!' said Alice; `I must be shutting up like a telescope.'

And so it was indeed: she was now only ten inches high, and her face brightened up at the
thought that she was now the right size for going though the little door into that lovely
garden. First, however, she waited for a few minutes to see if she was going to shrink any
further: she felt a little nervous about this; `for it might end, you know,' said Alice to
herself, `in my going out altogether, like a candle. I wonder what I should be like then?'
And she tried to fancy what the flame of a candle is like after the candle is blown out,
for she could not remember ever having seen such a thing.

After a while, finding that nothing more happened, she decided on going into the
garden at once; but, alas for poor Alice! when she got to the door, she found he had
forgotten the little golden key, and when she went back to the table for it, she found she
could not possibly reach it: she could see it quite plainly through the glass, and she
tried her best to climb up one of the legs of the table, but it was too slippery; and when
she had tired herself out with trying, the poor little thing sat down and cried.

Image: Lewis Carroll

`Come, there's no use in crying like that!' said Alice to herself, rather sharply; `I
advise you to leave off this minute!' She generally gave herself very good advice, (though
she very seldom followed it), and sometimes she scolded herself so severely as to bring
tears into her eyes; and once she remembered trying to box her own ears for having cheated
herself in a game of croquet she was playing against herself, for this curious child was
very fond of pretending to be two people. `But it's no use now,' thought poor Alice, `to
pretend to be two people! Why, there's hardly enough of me left to make ONE respectable
person!'

Soon her eye fell on a little glass box that was lying under the table: she opened it, and
found in it a very small cake, on which the words Eat Me were
beautifully marked in currants. `Well, I'll eat it,' said Alice, `and if it makes me grow
larger, I can reach the key; and if it makes me grow smaller, I can creep under the door;
so either way I'll get into the garden, and I don't care which happens!'

She ate a little bit, and said anxiously to herself, `Which way? Which way?', holding her
hand on the top of her head to feel which way it was growing, and she was quite surprised
to find that she remained the same size: to be sure, this generally happens when one eats
cake, but Alice had got so much into the way of expecting nothing but out-of-the-way
things to happen, that it seemed quite dull and stupid for life to go on in the common
way.

So she set to work, and very soon finished off the cake.

From BEDTIME-STORY CLASSICS
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